Toke Signals Stories of the Week

Hear that massive sucking sound? That’s the sound of all Washington’s promised “cannabis tourism” dollars going south to Oregon.

You know the windfall that was promised to Washington state voters if they approved Initiative 502, the anemic, problem-plagued marijuana “legalization” initiative that has become a nationwide laughingstock? Well, I-502 has become, in effect, a bad example of how NOT to do legalization, even as Colorado and Oregon laugh all the way to the bank.

Welcome to Washington state’s dumb-ass brand of “legalization”… Where in reality we are slipping BACKWARDS from the progress we achieved with medical marijuana, to restrictive new “recreational” rules that forbid on-site consumption. When greedy 502 merchants got these rules passed to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, they cut off their noses to spite their faces… and most are too clueless to recognize this, even now.

The Texas House of Representatives Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Wednesday approved a bill 5-1 that would end marijuana prohibition in the state.

HB 2165, introduced in March by Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview), would strike references to marijuana offenses from Texas statutes, resulting in marijuana being treated similarly to other legal crops.

Nearly three out of five Texas voters (58 percent) support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol, according to a statewide survey conducted by Public Policy Polling in September 2013.

Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla of Puerto Rico on Sunday signed an executive order yesterday legalizing medical marijuana in the U.S. territory.

The order enables the Puerto Rican Health Department to authorize the use of marijuana and its derivatives for medical purposes. The Health Secretary now has three months to produce a report etching out the details of the new system.

In 2013, a medical marijuana bill was introduced into the Puerto Rican Legislature but remains stuck in the House of Representatives.

The Louisiana Senate on Monday approved legislation which would legalize the medicinal use of cannabis. Senate Bill 143, which spells out how the state’s medical marijuana industry would work, was approved on a 22-13 vote.

If the bill is approved by the Louisiana House, patients with a doctor’s authorization could obtain cannabis in non-smokable form at one of 10 dispensaries across the state, reports Emily Lane at the Times-Picayune. The bill passed on Monday approves one growing site.

SB 143, sponsored by Sen. Fred Mills (R-New Iberia), would restrict the use of “CBD only” medicinal cannabis in non-smokable forms to patients with glaucoma, spastric quadriplegia and for those undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.

The Delaware House of Representatives Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved a bill 5-4 that would remove criminal penalties and potential jail time for possession of a small amount of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine similar to a traffic ticket. The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

HB 39, introduced by Rep. Helene Keeley (D-Wilmington South), would make possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil violation punishable by a $100 fine with no possibility of jail. Under current Delaware law, possession of up to one ounce of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $575 fine and up to three months in jail.

“This is a modest, commonsense policy change that is long overdue in Delaware,” Rep. Keeley said. “Simply possessing a small amount of marijuana does not warrant jail time and the other serious consequences of a criminal conviction. The punishment should fit the crime, not cause more harm than the crime.”

What’s so scary about a free market? Almost two decades after California voters approved the medicinal use of marijuana, the state’s cannabis trade is being described as a “Wild West,” even as it has reached the status of a $2 billion industry.

Legislators, of course, are doing what lawmakers do. They want to bring “law and order” to the business, reports Anita Chabria at The Guardian.

There are currently three bills in the Legislature which would codify how medicinal cannabis is grown and sold in the Golden State, including whether the state or local municipalities have control, and what environmental and health issues should be addressed.

Kentucky’s industrial hemp crop is growing and bringing new investors to the state, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer announced at a Tuesday news conference in Lexington.

According to Comer, 121 participants have been selected to grow hemp this year, including seven universities across the state, reports Janet Patton at the Herald-Leader. Thirty-six groups and projects will grow 1,742 acres of hemp this year, he said.

Last year, the first in decades that a legal hemp crop was grown in Kentucky, saw 20 farmers growing just over 33 acres.

Toke Signals Must Read of the Week

I believe that human beings should have more rights than corporations.

The current direction of the marijuana movement is corruption and greed.

CURRENT GOAL OF GREED:
Create a two-tiered restrictive permitting pot monopoly that creates criminals out of everybody except a very small group of politically connected insiders who are able to pay off politicians to write up restrictive legislation that creates criminals out of almost every single human being except themselves.

WHY:
Keep the artificially high prices of Prohibition for this select small group of corrupt, greedy self-interested people.

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